Five‐year outcomes of pembrolizumab versus chemotherapy in Chinese patients with non‐small‐cell lung cancer and programmed cell death ligand 1 tumor proportion score ≥1%: <scp>KEYNOTE</scp> ‐042 China study

In the phase 3 KEYNOTE-042 China study of participants enrolled in China in the global KEYNOTE-042 (NCT02220894) and China extension (NCT03850444) studies, pembrolizumab improved overall survival (OS) versus chemotherapy in locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) tumor proportion score (TPS) ≥50% (hazard ratio [HR], 0.63; 95% CI, 0.43-0.94), ≥20% (0.66; 0.47-0.92), and ≥1% (0.67; 0.50-0.89). We present outcomes from this study after 5 years of follow-up. Chinese participants with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with PD-L1 TPS ≥1% without EGFR or ALK alterations were eligible. Participants were randomized 1:1 to pembrolizumab 200 mg every 3 weeks for up to 35 cycles or carboplatin plus paclitaxel or pemetrexed with optional pemetrexed maintenance (nonsquamous only). Primary endpoints were OS in the PD-L1 TPS ≥50%, ≥20%, and ≥1% subgroups. Median follow-up was 63.7 (range, 56.3-72.6) months among 262 participants (pembrolizumab, n = 128; chemotherapy, n = 134) included in this study. Pembrolizumab prolonged OS versus chemotherapy in participants with PD-L1 TPS ≥50% (HR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.45-0.93), ≥20% (0.67; 0.49-0.91), and ≥1% (0.66; 0.51-0.87). Grade 3 to 5 treatment-related AEs occurred in 19.5% and 68.8% of participants in the pembrolizumab and chemotherapy groups, respectively. In conclusion, after 5 years of follow-up, pembrolizumab continued to demonstrate improved OS versus chemotherapy with manageable safety in Chinese participants with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC that expressed PD-L1. These data further support pembrolizumab monotherapy as a standard of care for these patients.